On Demand movie highlights

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HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS ★★★

(HBO on Comcast) How should we treat this? This was to be the series’ seventh and final film, but it’s been split, rather crassly, in half. “Part One” features the most deliriously inspired moviemaking since 2004’s “The Prisoner of Azkaban,” and enough bold silences and pensive glances to qualify as European art. But J.K. Rowling wrote one epic funeral that Warner Bros. now requires us to show up for twice. (PG-13; runs through Oct. 29)

Wesley Morris

MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS ★★★

(Comcast Movie Collections: Just In) If you like Joss Whedon’s superhero extravaganza (really, there’s almost nothing to dislike; it’s as close as a movie can come to the fantastical reality of a good comic book), stick around for the closing credits. As fun as it is to watch the actors playing superheroes, the real stars are the hundreds of men and women who’ve closed the gap between what’s doable in comic books and the movies based on them. With Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, and Samuel L. Jackson. (PG-13; runs through March 10)